Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment
Quantitative EEG has been shown to reflect neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may provide non-invasive and widely available biomarkers to enhance the objectivization of disease assessment. To address EEG's major drawback – its low spatial resolution – many studies...
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Elsevier
2025-04-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811925001466 |
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| author | Wolfgang Frühwirt Martin Mairhofer Andreas Hahn Heinrich Garn Markus Waser Reinhold Schmidt Thomas Benke Peter Dal-Bianco Gerhard Ransmayr Dieter Grossegger Stephen Roberts Georg Dorffner |
| author_facet | Wolfgang Frühwirt Martin Mairhofer Andreas Hahn Heinrich Garn Markus Waser Reinhold Schmidt Thomas Benke Peter Dal-Bianco Gerhard Ransmayr Dieter Grossegger Stephen Roberts Georg Dorffner |
| author_sort | Wolfgang Frühwirt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Quantitative EEG has been shown to reflect neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may provide non-invasive and widely available biomarkers to enhance the objectivization of disease assessment. To address EEG's major drawback – its low spatial resolution – many studies have employed 3D source localization. However, none have investigated whether this complex mapping into 3D space actually adds value over standard surface derivation. In fact, we found no prior study – in any disease – that quantitatively compared the results of a 3D source localization method with those achieved by surface derivation. We analyzed data from one of the largest prospective AD EEG studies ever conducted (four study centers, 188 patients, 100 female). Thousands of distinct quantitative EEG markers of slowing, complexity, and functional connectivity were computed and regressed against disease severity, with rigorous control for multiple testing. We found highly significant associations between quantitative EEG markers and disease severity. However, standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), a widely used 3D source localization method, did not improve results. Furthermore, a surface derivation marker (auto-mutual information of the left hemisphere during the eyes-closed condition) was the best performing marker across our entire sample. While our findings strongly support that quantitative EEG markers reflect neurodegenerative processes in AD, they do not demonstrate additional benefit from sLORETA. Importantly, our results are specific to AD and sLORETA. Therefore, they should not be generalized to other neurological or psychiatric disorders or to other 3D source localization methods without further validation. Finally, these findings do not diminish the value of 3D source localization for visual EEG inspection. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9f374a6eb70d458fb33f22a07aed3049 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1095-9572 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage |
| spelling | doaj-art-9f374a6eb70d458fb33f22a07aed30492025-08-20T01:54:11ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722025-04-0131012114410.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121144Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessmentWolfgang Frühwirt0Martin Mairhofer1Andreas Hahn2Heinrich Garn3Markus Waser4Reinhold Schmidt5Thomas Benke6Peter Dal-Bianco7Gerhard Ransmayr8Dieter Grossegger9Stephen Roberts10Georg Dorffner11Machine Learning Research Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Corresponding author at: Machine Learning Research Group, University of Oxford, Eagle House, Walton Well Road, Oxford OX2 6ED, UK.Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaAIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, AustriaAIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, AustriaDepartment of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, AustriaDepartment of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Neurology 2, Kepler University Hospital, Linz, AustriaDr. Grossegger & Drbal GmbH, Vienna, AustriaMachine Learning Research Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKInstitute of Artificial Intelligence, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaQuantitative EEG has been shown to reflect neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may provide non-invasive and widely available biomarkers to enhance the objectivization of disease assessment. To address EEG's major drawback – its low spatial resolution – many studies have employed 3D source localization. However, none have investigated whether this complex mapping into 3D space actually adds value over standard surface derivation. In fact, we found no prior study – in any disease – that quantitatively compared the results of a 3D source localization method with those achieved by surface derivation. We analyzed data from one of the largest prospective AD EEG studies ever conducted (four study centers, 188 patients, 100 female). Thousands of distinct quantitative EEG markers of slowing, complexity, and functional connectivity were computed and regressed against disease severity, with rigorous control for multiple testing. We found highly significant associations between quantitative EEG markers and disease severity. However, standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), a widely used 3D source localization method, did not improve results. Furthermore, a surface derivation marker (auto-mutual information of the left hemisphere during the eyes-closed condition) was the best performing marker across our entire sample. While our findings strongly support that quantitative EEG markers reflect neurodegenerative processes in AD, they do not demonstrate additional benefit from sLORETA. Importantly, our results are specific to AD and sLORETA. Therefore, they should not be generalized to other neurological or psychiatric disorders or to other 3D source localization methods without further validation. Finally, these findings do not diminish the value of 3D source localization for visual EEG inspection.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S10538119250014663D source localizationQuantitative EEGAlzheimer's diseaseDementiasLORETA |
| spellingShingle | Wolfgang Frühwirt Martin Mairhofer Andreas Hahn Heinrich Garn Markus Waser Reinhold Schmidt Thomas Benke Peter Dal-Bianco Gerhard Ransmayr Dieter Grossegger Stephen Roberts Georg Dorffner Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment NeuroImage 3D source localization Quantitative EEG Alzheimer's disease Dementia sLORETA |
| title | Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment |
| title_full | Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment |
| title_fullStr | Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment |
| title_short | Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve EEG Alzheimer's disease assessment |
| title_sort | standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography does not improve eeg alzheimer s disease assessment |
| topic | 3D source localization Quantitative EEG Alzheimer's disease Dementia sLORETA |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811925001466 |
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